About the Artistic Director

​Barbara Angeline is the founder and Artistic Director of Hysterika Jazz Dance. HJD is a jazz dance company dedicated to expanding the legacy of jazz dance as an American art form with a rich and powerful history. The company's first performance took place in Fall 2014, when the company premiered Mi Maschera (Mask Me), an original jazz dance work that illuminated the use of Venetian Masks in the Baroque Period as it related to issues of gender bias and explorations of female identity.

Barbara's research-based, historical collaboration process has been used in many of her choreographic works, including: Rhapsody – choreographed in the style of George Balanchine; Tightrope - choreographed to immerse performers in the significant contributions of Bob Fosse; and eat Crow - inspired by the movement style, performance quality and history of Josephine Baker. Barbara presented her process in a workshop titled "Jazz Dance Choreography – Historical Collaborations with Dance Luminaries" at the National Dance Education Organization's conference in Chicago. She also created and facilitated a jazz dance panel at the conference that gathered jazz dance educators from around the country to discuss “Jazz Dance in Higher Education and The Professions: Where Do We Go From Here?”

As a performer, Barbara was featured in Broadway Backwards 5 at Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theatre (featured dancer), Broadway Backwards 6 at the Longacre Theatre (dance captain) and Broadway Backwards 7 at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre. Credits also include: The Oakland Ballet Company (soloist), Broadway Bares,The Gypsy of the Year Awards, featured roles in Equity musicals--The Wizard of Oz (National Tour), Oliver, On the Town, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,Carnival, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers—five years in the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular, and dance captain and adagio feature for The Radio City Easter Spectacular. Barbara has worked with Woody Allen, Jerry Mitchell, Graciela Daniele, Bob Bartley, Bernadette Peters, and Aretha Franklin.

Barbara holds an M.A. in Dance Education (New York University) and a B.A. in Dance (UC Irvine). She is a full-time Instructor of Dance Arts at Rutgers, teaching Broadway Jazz Technique, Jazz Dance, History of Broadway Dance (fully online, author), Dance Studies, Dance History, and Improvisation. Barbara taught Choreography for the Theater at Hofstra University and teaches master classes nationally. She was an assistant and substitute teacher in Musical Theatre Dance at the Steinhardt School at NYU. She also taught weekly Musical Theater Audition workshops to students in the vocal performance and musical theater programs at Steinhardt. She was a faculty member at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City, where she developed curriculum; staged movement and combat for Academy Company plays; and taught Movement for Actors courses as well as musical theater and period movement workshops. Barbara is a guest lecturer at the Lee Strasberg Institute (ballet, jazz), NYU (ballet, jazz, musical-theater dance).

Barbara’s research area is critical thinking in dance education. She has presented her research and “Critical Pedagogy in Dance Technique Class” movement workshops at Harvard University, Hofstra University, Rutgers University, SUNY Brockport, Tisch School of the Arts and the Steinhardt School at New York University, and at the NDEO’s national conference. She was on the Board of the New York State Dance Education Association. Barbara was on the writing committee that synthesized, facilitated and wrote information for the NDEO "Vision Document for Dance 2050: The Future of Dance In Higher Education."